A Matter of Life and Death
Why shouldn't we use our embryos and genes to make our lives better? The world awaits a Christian answer
David P. Gushee | posted 10/01/2001 12:00AM
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Leaving the limits of nature and the past behind, we will remake ourselves. Still, as bioethicist Audrey Chapman has written, the nations are not sure they ought to heed this siren song. They seem to be pausing at the brink, waiting to hear from the church or any other voice on why they should not plunge into the remaking of humanity.
The Challenge to Christians
Tell us why we should not proceed to remake humanity now that we are developing the power to do so—this is the challenge presented to Christians (and other religious groups). When the U.S. National Bioethics Advisory Commission formulated guidance to the President on human cloning in 1997, for example, it sought the testimony of a variety of religious thinkers.
To offer answers, we must consider some difficult theological conundrums. After we identify a few of them, we will sketch an initial response —exhaustive neither in scope nor argument—to specific biotech challenges.
Is God responsible for these technological advances? A vibrant theology of divine sovereignty would have to answer "yes," at least in some sense. If so, then why worry? Because our affirmation of God's sovereignty comes with the equally biblical assertion that human beings have the freedom to make good or bad decisions.
God did indeed make us with the intelligence to develop these technologies, but we are responsible for what we do with that intelligence. We may stumble into areas beyond our appropriate range; this was the primordial sin, after all. But it is also possible that God is at work in some of these biotechnological advances.
Are suffering, finitude, and death revocable by human effort? Human sin introduced suffering and death into a previously unmarred creation. The reversal of sin's effects marked the kingdom-inaugurating ministry of Jesus Christ, but until he returns the creation will continue to "groan" (Rom. 8:18ff)—illness, death, and finitude will remain a reality.
Indeed, both Scripture and history show that utopian visions of the elimination of suffering tend toward disaster, either through tyranny or as the unforeseen consequence of well-intended schemes. One of the best things biblical faith contributes to the biotech discussion is a well-considered understanding of human weakness, finitude, and sin, and the double-edged potential of many human endeavors.
The Dominion Mandate
And yet does God not mandate human efforts to mitigate the effects of sin? Along with Christ's kingdom mandate to heal and restore, in creation God called humanity to exercise dominion over (Gen. 1:28) and preserve/protect (Gen. 2:15) the Earth. After the Fall, the dominion/protection (stewardship) mandate was not removed, but extended to more difficult conditions.
God calls us to "sustain, restore, and improve" our fallen world, according to ethicist James C. Peterson. While the term "created co-creators" overstates our status, we are called to mitigate the Fall's effects and thus improve human and planetary life. It would be disobedient to resist human progress toward these ends, but the issue becomes complex when innovations risk bringing more harm than benefit—and when they risk transgressing divinely established boundaries.
To what extent does God intend to "fix the world," as opposed to redeeming a people for eternity from within a broken world? Lutheran theologian Philip Hefner has argued that a dubious "fix-it" mentality lies behind much of the biotech revolution. And yet a healthy theology of God's sovereignty as Creator and Redeemer drives us to reclaim "every square inch" of creation, as Dutch Calvinist Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) once famously said. Likewise, a kingdom approach emphasizes Jesus' mission as reclaiming a rebellious and suffering world for its rightful King.
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